Controller for doors, &amp;c.



M. C. MILLER.

CONTROLLER POB. DOORS, noK APPLICATION FILED MAY a1. 1907. MNBWED MAY 6,1909.

Patented Dec. 21, 1909.

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MILO C. MILLER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CONTROLLER FOR DOORS, &c.

Application filed May 31, 1907, Serial No. 376,489.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Bec. 21, 1999. Renewed May 6, 1909. Serial No. 494,505.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MiLo C. MILLER, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Controllers for Doors, &c., of which the following is aspecii'ication.

This invention relates to means for holding hinged swinging bodies, suchas doors, yieldingly either in a closed or an opened position, the doorbeing held yieldingly in its closed position by a spring or othersuitable motor which acts to move the door toward its closed positionuntil the door is moved to a predetermined opened position, when theaction of the motor is prevented by automatic locking means holding thedoor in its opened position until a suitable degree of force is appliedto release or disconnect the members of the locking means, and permitthe motor to again act in closing the door.

The invention consists in the improvements which l will now proceed todescribe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspeciticatiomhFigure 1 represents a side elevation of a portion of adoor casing and of a door hinged thereto, a con` troller embodying myinvention being shown connected with the hinge. Fig. 2 represents asection on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, the door being shown in its closedposition in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 3 represents a view similar to Fig. 2,showing the door locked in its opened position.

The same numerals of reference indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In the drawings 12 represents a fixed support, such as a door casing,and 13 represents a swinging body, such as a door, connected with thesupport 12 by a hinge composed of a fixed member 14 secured to thecasing, and a movable member 15 secured to the door, the two membersjointed together by means of a pintle or pivot 16 aifixed to one member,and a socket 17 affixed to the other member, and adapted to turn on thepintle. The inner portions of the hinge members are adapted to besecured by suitable attaching screws 1S, or otherwise, to the casing anddoor, the joint of the hinge being at the outer portions of the members,as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the joint thereof projecting from the doorand casing.

A door-closing motor is employed to act on the movable hinge member, andhold the door normally in the closed position shown in Figs. 1 and 2,said motor being prefer ably a helical spring 19 supported by a holder20 mounted on a fixed support, such as the casing 12. The holder 2O ispreferably a cylinder, in which a piston 21 has a sliding t. rlhe motorspring 19 bears at one end against one of the heads of the cylinder, andat the other end against the piston 21. A jointed connection is providedbetween the motor spring and the movable hinge member, the arrangementbeing such that the spring will be compressed by an opening movement ofthe door, and will normally react to move the door to its closedposition, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the said jointed connection beingmovable endwisc and caused by an opening movement of the movable memberto compress the spring, and to assume an angular position. The saidjointed connection is provided with locking means which actautomatically to maintain the said angular position and the compressionof the spring, and thus prevent the doorclosing action of the springwhen the door is opened, as shown in Fig. 3. The said jointedconnection, as here shown, includes a section 22, aiiixed rigidlyto themovable hinge member, and a section 23 connected at one end by a. pivot21 with the section 22, and at the other end by a pivot 25 with a rod 26affixed to the piston 21. The spring acts on the piston 21 to move thesame away from the cylinder head, which constitutes the abutment for thespring, the jointed connection 22 23 imparting movement from the pistonto the movable hinge member so that when the door is free to close, itis drawn to its closed position by the spring and the intermediatejointed connection.

The locking means whereby the door is held and the spring madeinoperative when the door is in the position shown in Fig. 3, as hereshown comprises a shoulder 27 formed on the section 22, and a springdetent 28 secured by a pin 29 to the section 23. The spring detent- 2Sbears yieldingly against the section 22 at one side of the shoulder 27when the door is in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and against oneend of the section 22 at the opposite side of the shoulder 27 when thedoor is in the position shown in Fig. 3. It will be seen therefore thatwhen t-he door is being opened from the p0- sition shown in Fig. 2, theshoulder 27 appreaches the outer end of the detent 28, and when theshoulder passes said outer end, the detent 28 springs inwardly againstthe end of the section 22, and engages the shoulder 27 in such manner asto lock the door in the opened position shown in Fig. 3. The lock is nota positive one, but is sufficient to prevent the spring from closing thedoor. The shoulder 27 has rounded sides, its form being such th at whenthe door is pushed with some force toward its closed position, theshoulder will be pressed against the end of the detent 28, and willforce lthe latter outwardly so that the shoulder passes again under thedetent, and toward the position shown in Fig. 2. Then the shoulderpasses under the end of the detent, the spring again acts on the movablemember of the hinge, and moves the door to its closed position.

To retard the closing movement of the door by the spring, I provide thecylinder 2O with an air inlet 3l at one side of the piston, said inlethaving an outwardly-closing valve 3Q. vWhen the door is being opened,the piston moves away from the inlet 3l, and draws air therethrough, thevalve 32 yielding to admit the air. Then the piston is being moved bythe spring toward the air inlet, the Yalve 32 closes. The only outletfor the air thus coniined between the piston and the air inlet, is arestricted air outlet 33, which is preferably formed in the piston rod26, and is so restricted that the escape of air from between the pistonand the air inlet is retarded, and the spring is caused to move the doorslowly to its closed position.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the spring acts to lclose thedoor at all times excepting when the door has been opened to theposition shown in Fig. 3, and that when opened to said position the dooris locked by the locking means on the jointed connection between themovable hinge member and the spring motor, the door being thus heldopened but adapted to be released and put under the control of thespring by the application of sutlicient force to cause the shoulder 2Tto displace the spring detent 2S.

I claim:

1. ln a controller for doors, etc., in combination, a hinge having afixed member and a movable member, a hinge-closing motor, and a jointedconnection between the motor and the 'movable member, said connectionbeing composed of two sections, one aiiixed to the movable member andprovided with a shoulder, while the other is connected with the motorand provided with a spring detent v adapted to engage said shoulder whenthe hinge is opened.

2. In a controller for doors, etc., in com bination, a hinge having twomembers jointed together at their outer portions and adapted at theirinner portions for attachment respectively to a iiXed support and aswinging part, such as a door, a cylinder adapted for attachmenttoafixed support,a piston movable in said cylinder, a spring interposedbetween the piston and one head of the cylinder, and provided with a rodeX- tending through the said spring and head, and a jointed connectionbetween the piston rod and the movable hinge member, said connectionbeing composed of two sections, one ailixed to the movable hinge member,and provided with a shoulder, while the other is connected with thepiston rod and is provided with a spring detentadapted to engage saidshoulder when the hinge is opened, the cylinder being provided withmeans for admitting air when the hinge is being opened, and forpermitting a retarded escape of air when the hinge is being closed bythe sprinO.

ln testimony whereof l have aiiixed my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

MLO C. MILLER. Vlitnesses C. F. BROWN, E. BATCHELDER.

